1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the communications field and, in particular, to a charging system and method capable of segmenting subscribers on a service class level and further capable of segmenting those subscribers on an account level using a service offerings parameter.
2. Description of Related Art
The following abbreviations are herewith defined, at least some of which are referred to in the ensuing description of the prior art and the present invention.
CDR Call Data Record
CS Content Server
EoCN End of Call Notification
GMSC Gateway Mobile Services Switching Centre
GPRS General Package Radio Services
GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
GUI Graphical User Interface
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network
LE Local Exchange
MMS Multimedia Messaging Service
MSC Mobile Services Switching Centre
NAS Network Access Server
PLMN Public Land Mobile Network
PSTN Public Switched Telecommunications Networks
SDP Service Data Point
SMS Short Message Service
SSF Service Switching Function
SSP Service Switching Point
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
USSD Unstructured Supplementary Service Data
Telecommunication operators today use a charging system to determine what to bill their subscribers for using their services (e.g., circuit switched voice, SMS, MMS and/or GPRS). The subscribers often have either a prepaid option or a postpaid option they can use to pay for a particular service. If a subscriber uses the postpaid option, then they pay for a service after it has been used, for example once a month. If a subscriber uses the prepaid option, then they pay before the usage of a service. Both these payment options can use real time charging, i.e. the charging process is done as a part of the rendering of a service to a subscriber. The postpaid option also supports non-real time charging, i.e. when the charging process is done after the service has been provided.
The traditional charging system relies on the use of service classes to segment subscribers for charging purposes. These service classes are used for all types of segmentation including, for example, differentiation of tariffs/ratings and USSD notifications. Essentially, during a charging session at least one calculation run based on a service call is performed by the charging system. For example, the charging system determines the price for a service by deciding the duration of the service, deciding the time of the service, deciding if a promotion analysis is used and so forth. This type of calculation run often utilizes several if/then conditions in a tariff decision structure that results in the price for the service.
WO 95/24093A (British Telecommunications Public Limited Company) 8 Sep. 1995 (1995-09-08) appears to disclose a system for pricing calls made by customers in a telecommunications network. The processor receives call records from the local exchange and data from the databases and uses the call records and data to price calls by evaluating a factor relating to the type of service used in the call, a factor relating to the type of customer, a factor relating to the locations of the calling and called number in the network and a factor relating to the day on which the call is made. The values of the factors are used to select the tariff from the set of call tariffs stored in a database and the call is then priced in accordance with this tariff.
WO 03/094494A2 (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson) 13 Nov. 2003 (2003-11-13) appears to disclose a method for determining rating data for services in a communications network, wherein an incoming charging request is received from a service element, data (e.g., a location number associated with a service or a subscriber) is accessed, and a tariff structure is traversed. The tariff structure may contain branching conditions that are based on data stored in identified lists of identifiers and associated data.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,199,047B1 (Dimino et al.) 6 Mar. 2001 (2001-03-06) appears to disclose an event rating engine that is logically decoupled from a rating database and obtains rating rules from the rating database. The rating engine receives a usage event message that contains a list of input variables and associated values that are used, in part, to execute the appropriate procedure and output the amount charged for the event.
WO 00/07354A (American Management Systems, Inc.) 10 Feb. 2000 (2000-02-10) appears to disclose a ratings engine system that uses decision networks to select and execute price plans to rate an event. The price plans and rule sets are stored in a database. Conditions are also evaluated as the rule sets are traversed and include a program that determines if an event qualifies for the condition.
WO 2004/045142A1 (British Telecommunications Public Limited Company) 27 May 2004 (2004-05-27) appears to disclose a method for generating a rate model for use in determining a rate to be applied with respect to an instance of a product or service, system or process. The rate model includes: (i) data defining a rating space having at least one dimension defined by an attribute of the system, process, product or service; (ii) a rating vector definition comprising at least one rate parameter; and (iii) data which defines distinct regions in the rating space over which the defined rating vector is invariant, and which defines the respective invariant rating vector for each distinct region.
WO 03/026267A2 (Orange Personal Communications Services Limited) 27 Mar. 2003 (2003-03-27) appears to disclose a method of determining rating data for use in rating a service requested to be provided to a subscriber of a telecommunications system. Individual subscriber records are stored that contain information identifying one or more parameters of a service. The rating data is determined based on the stored information that matches the requested service.
However, the traditional charging system has a major drawback in that there is no way to segment the subscribers except by using service classes. The use of service classes to segment all of the subscribers is very inefficient both from a system resource perspective and from an administrative perspective since the number of service classes increases exponentially with the number of parameters (e.g., tariffs, discounts, bundled discounts, bonuses) that are used to differentiate the subscribers. This problem and other problems are solved by the present invention.